I kind of feel like Rollins had a specific ending for his promo that he was supposed to hit, but he forgot it. So he repeated himself until he remembered it. He’s definitely gotten better than he was, but yeah, Ambrose is still the best by far. LOVE that guy.

In 2009, Perry (aka Lana) joined “No Means Yes”, a girl group signed to Ne-Yo’s record label comprising Perry (billed as “C.J.”), Kat, Shea and Tanu. The group released one single – titled “Would You Like That” – and recorded two others (titled “7 Years Bad Luck” and “Burn Rubber”) before disbanding in 2010.

Perry stated on joining “No Means Yes”, “A girlfriend of mine in college referred me to the man that was putting the group together. I honestly was so scared to sing and I didn’t even know a song to sing at the audition so I sang “Jesus Loves Me.” I remember them saying we can work with her tone because she has the right look and she is a model that break dances. I am so thankful to this day for that experience because I do not think I would have ever gotten the role in Pitch Perfect if I hadn’t overcome my fear to open my mouth and sing.”

I do honestly wonder how Emma feels to see her friend and fellow rising star Paige putting on fantastic matches and be Divas Champ already while she’s stuck putting pink socks on her hand and being Santino’s 456789th on-screen girlfriend.

Hopefully the seemingly endless story with Santino, Emma, Fandango, and now Layla can end soon and Emma can realize that she’s way too talented to be hanging around a weirdo Italian guy that wants to f*ck her.

I think what bothered me most about the finish to the Cena/Wyatt Family match was how CLOSE they walked this thing up to actually going somewhere. Cena did his absolute best (given how limited he is as an “actor”) to sell the idea that the app vote legitimately bothered him – like for the first time, he understood that his “some of you like to cheer me, and some of you like to boo me, and that’s OK” schtick is nonsense, and that it’s actually “some of you like to cheer me, and some of you want to see me torn apart by crazy cult members for your entertainment”.

THAT could have gone somewhere, but then — NOPE, time to “overcome all of the odds again”. They’ve totally painted themselves into a corner with Cena – he’ll be playing this character FOREVER. Or at least until his merchandising revenue dries up.

So long as they don’t start calling him the Swiss Tornado or make him do any of the other lame tornado-related crap they made Kerry Von Erich do back in the day (guy who thought up the stupid ‘spinning punch’, I’m looking at you).

Brandon, you’ve partially read my mind. I was thinking the same thing about how sad it was that Emma wasn’t really her own character and was just the “female Santino”. That sucks. I mean, as a female wrestling fan who thinks of myself as a feminist, I’m used to being really disappointed by WWE and how they portray women but this is just sad. I kind of had a similar thought when I saw Brie Bella’s new ring gear with the dragons… She’s the lady American Dragon now. Which I guess is slightly better because they’re actually married. And also that new gear looks better than the ruffled boots she work before. But still.

Best place to ask this: they ever give a reason why every woman has to only have 1 name unless, you know, they’re twins so we have to make that the thing we know about them? Even Nattie doesn’t get the Neidhart added.

There’s historical precedence because (Miss) Elizabeth, Lita, and Sunny. But no, there’s no official reason why the women all have just one name. And the non-kayfabe reasons are of course because “the fans won’t be able to remember two names” which is code for laziness and not giving a shit about women’s wrestling.

I want to see Bray force some honesty out of Cena, to make his true feelings known about dedicating the last decade of his life to the WWE only for a big chunk of the audience to mock and boo him no matter what. He doesn’t need to turn heel, just peel back his Superman persona for a moment so he can bare his heart.

Alternatively Wyatt could berate Cena and talk about how much of an idiot he willing is, always prancing about in ugly multi-coloured clothing and making childish jokes to appeal to the young and the dumb. “You could be king of this castle, John, and instead you’ve chosen to be the fool.”

Also, Cesaro needs to split from Heyman immediately. It’s not working. Heyman’s heel heat is an all-time high while Cesaro’s never been more popular. The crowd doesn’t have a clue what to do. Unless this is leading to Brock vs Cesaro they need to abandon this storyline.

Brandon, I feel your pain with the whole Emma situation. Comparing and contrasting NXT Emma with RAW Emma is a short path to crushing disappointment. It’s like watching your girl graduate university with first class honours only to start working in a strip joint.

– I still feel like D-Bry and Kane will be a pretty boring feud, if only because they’ve already spent so much time together. I guess we’ll Wait And See.

– Bad News Barrett yeeahhhh. I have the same fear of him being the IC title death spot. One side effect of the modern story-driven era is the death of the important of the midcard belts. The IC title isn’t prestigious at all anymore when it used to mean you were the #2 guy. Did they phase out the US title? Has Ambrose even worn it or mentioned it in months? They should have the IC title be like the headbands from Afro Samurai, where anyone can challenge the IC title holder, but only the IC champ can challenge for the world title.

Side note, why isn’t White Noise Seamus’s finisher? It’s a cool looking, unique move. I really hate elbows/punches/kicks as finishers. At least use the High Cross again. Bullhammer is still better than Wasteland at least.

– I do remember the Corre. I could buy a Corre tshirt off of ebay for 20 bucks. Will I? Maybe. Does Zeke even still work for WWE? Heath Slater should just job to a different past WWE wrestler every week, really dig deep. Have Jose Lothario come out next week. He also should have tapped to Doink’s Stump Puller.

– I really am enjoying Rybaxel, and I thought I could never enjoy Axel.

– LAYLA! Oh man I had to bit on my non Lana scabbed knuckle. She was gone for so long I forgot how pretty she is. There may be a tie for #1. And Jesus the Emma thing, I don’t even know where to begin. Who is this for? I can’t imagine kids could care about this shit with Santino, adults certainly don’t. Do the RAW writers even watch NXT? I imagine they were like “Ugh another Diva, okay does Santino have a girlfriend right now?”

– I didn’t watch Legends House but I saw the commercial for it where Gene Okerlund was crying. It should have had a voiceover of him going “WHY AM I CRYING? CALL THE HOTLINE TO FIND OUT!”

– The IC belt is really perfect for RVD if you think about it: both irrelevant relics from the 90s. He’s welcome to it.

– I’m really kind of indifferent about Paige. I would love to see Aksana get a real heel character though. Give Naomi the eyepatch as a permanent thing, have them tag and be her Riggs to Aksana’s Raven.

– That one knuckle though is seriously one big scab.

– I didn’t even watch the Wyatt / Cena segment. I do not think it is possible for me to care less, and where does Wyatt even go from here? I think their beef with the shield got cut too short.

– I hated JBL saying “Nobody kicks out of that!” when Barrett kicked out of White Noise. Because *everyone* kicks out of that.

– I believe I just read a couple weeks ago that Zeke was released. *I think.*

– I have no plans to watch Legends House, but Okerlund sounded drunk on the Cheap Heat podcast with Shoemaker and what’s-his-name. I don’t recall hearing he had a stroke, so I’m guessing he *was* just drunk.

As much as I hate what they’re doing with Emma sometimes, there are some bright notes. She IS getting a reaction. Not at the level of her NXT reaction yet, but the crowd is gradually starting to all her dance, chants for her during matches etc. That alone ranks her in the top 3-4 most popular Divas on the roster already because for the most part anyone not named AJ gets met with dead silence and hand-sitting.

Also, she’s been on Raw almost every single week. Are the Total Divas? The Bellas aren’t. The Funkadactyls aren’t. Nattie isn’t. Thank god Eva isn’t…but Emma is. No, she’s not what she could be, but she’s there and people are starting to figure out that she’s great, so I’m ok with it.

So…I rant about Cena all the fucking time, so I’ll skip it here and go right to how lame ‘The Accolade’ is both in terms of the name AND the move. I mean, I get that Rusev’s been using it for however long but he’s such a big, dynamic, explosive killer it seems completely absurd that his move is a bored camel clutch – basically the least dynamic finisher since EVER. Also, shouldn’t his name be some Bulgarian word that means ‘massacre’? Like, Cole’s trying to pronounce клане while calling out Rusev’s critical and JBL can be all, like, IT MEANS MASSACRE MAGGLE!!! IT MEANS MASSACRE!!!

I thought rusev had a top rope splash as his finisher in his first month in NXT. that’d certainly be some vader-level big-man-impressive move if he goes that way. big, agile wrestlers shouldn’t really have a submission as a finisher…

First of all, let me just say, here and now, I am 100% on the opposite side of the spectrum as Brandon is on Legends’ House. The first episode was the most entertaining reality television I’ve ever seen. I love everything about it and I’m so excited for the Thursday lineup on the Network. Piper v. Blender is the feud of the century, followed closely by Howard Finkel v. Physical Activity.

Second of all, I also think a lot of people are being very short-sighted and simplistic about the Cena/Wyatt feud in terms of how much wins and losses matter. I think when Wyatt said he was going to destroy Cena’s legacy, he meant he was going to turn the people against him and that’s exactly what he’s doing. He said himself that everywhere they go, more and more people join him. The WWE App poll was the crystallization of this. In fact, the more Cena bests the Wyatts, the more the people want to see Wyatt win. I love how this feud has been positioned in such a way that it works whether you’re the type of wrestling fan who sides with Cena or the type that sides with Wyatt. It’s so easy for both sides to see their side as the “good” side and the other side as the “bad” side. I’ve never seen anything like it.

I signed up to post this comment because I’ve never entirely disagreed with Brandon before this very moment. The John Cena/Bray Wyatt review gets a Worst… and here’s why.

You said that the result would be the same regardless of a 1-on-1, 1-on-2, or 1-on-3. Well that’s the point. Pay attention to what happened last night. Bray is trying to get to John Cena by showing that it’s not okay to be happy with everyone hating him. John comes in week in and week out with the same BS line about how some people love to boo me and some people love to cheer me, but that’s okay because you paid for your ticket. Everyone is at least having a good time, but the hatred is growing.

The point of the story is not between John Cena and Bray Wyatt, but between John Cena and the audience. The fans tried to hurt John Cena. He’s a face and they turned on him by actually voting in the WWE poll to put him in a 3 on 1 handicap just to be mean. The look on Cena’s face when they announced the result of the poll – THAT is where the story is. I wouldn’t mind if there was a poll every week that allow the fans to hurt Cena in different ways. (i.e. Would you prefer John Cena to: A) Walk away scott-free B) Get a chair shot to the face or C) Get hit by a truck). Then we could all watch with glee as 60% of the audience votes for him to get hit by a truck.

The only person who wants to literally WIN in this feud is Cena. Wyatt is focused on something much, much bigger. In fact, Wyatt already admitted that he doesn’t care about winning (which is good because everybody knows that there is no way Cena will lose clean).

Bray hasn’t brainwashed the audience. They know what they want. He’s never lied to us, just like he says, and it’s the truth. He’s just bringing the truth into the spot light and allowing fans to effectively vent. To allow children to accept a John Cena heel turn.

As much as i love this idea, and i do, this seems like the time we all fantasy booked Punk’s comeback or Bryan winning the title at Mania (before Punk skipped town). It’s a great idea but WWE only ever does the cool/smart thing after exhausting all the bad options.

Holy shit. This is amazing, and I sincerely hope this is where they’re going with this. I admit, it hadn’t occurred to me; I thought the story was either gonna be
1.) What Brandon said
2.) Cena turning to dark, heel-like measures to win, out of fear.

The signs are all there for what you’re describing to move forward, and if it does, it will be AWESOME.

It will be massively depressing if this ends up like all other opportunities for Cena character development (Cena vs. Nexus in 2010, Punk/Cena Summer 2011, Cena/Bryan 2013, hell, even the Rock feud) and concludes with Cena prevailing at Extreme Rules, and BRABADOOing down the ramp the next night on Raw, spouting the same three lines about SUMMA YA’LL LOVE ME, SUMMA YA’LL HATE ME.

I totally agree with this. I think that’s what Wyatt meant when he said he was going to destroy Cena’s legacy. Cena’s legacy is his following and if Bray can get them to turn on him (and he’s doing it, slowly but surely), that legacy will be destroyed.

God, seeing Bryan’s slight glazed over look while clearly not taking in what Steph was saying was heartbreaking. I remember going to work the day after my dad died. For me I wanted to get all my scheduled shit out the way before grieving. However long it takes, I hope he comes back when he feels comfortable coming back.

You forgot to mention that apparently Roddy Piper is a werewolf now. Honestly, if that show didn’t have Roddy, I’d have tuned out in 5 minutes. From his initial reaction to Jimmy Hart’s concern over the bathroom location (“It’s a big bathroom, though.” “I’m glad, Jimmy.”) to pondering if Gary Busey was going to give them “motorcycle lessons”. Oh, and I got a kick out of how most of those guys weren’t having any of Gary Busey’s shit. I’m watching as long as Piper’s in it, because I had no idea he really was just like “Da Maniac”. It’s hilarious.

That’s a good story. I got friends out here in LA that worked with him on some B-film and they went out drinking with him at Saddle Ranch one night and he kind of enlisted them to watch his back, though they didn’t understand at the time as to why. These are two big 6 foot mammy tampers, you know, so one of them goes to the bathroom and the other is getting a drink and Piper’s alone and, sure enough, somebody immediately tries to pick a fight with Piper. My friends got back just in time to stop things from escalating, luckily.

Bout 3-4 years later, one of those friends of mine ran into Roddy at a West Hollywood 7-11 and his account of the story went like this:

“Piper was just standing in front of the hot dog carousel, holding a half-eaten hot dog, lost in thought. I have no idea where he was in his head but I wasn’t stopping to say hi.”

– As always, for WWE’s “lesser” characters, the good stuff is on the internet. Santino teaching Emma judo moves: [www.wwe.com]

– I’m over giving a shit about Cena’s Cena stuff. Cena needs feuds, some guys get fed to him. When it happens, for most guys you wish them the best of luck, sometimes it works, most times you bail. Bray will get to do fun stuff later, he’s being asked to suffer this for now.

I) Have one of Cena’s jobber friend turn on Cena and join the Wyatt family. Zack Ryder jobbing every week wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the Wyatts. By doing this, Cena can take a week or two off and then focus on his friend who betrayed him, not Wyatt. After Cena squashes the minion a few times, Cena can go fight someone not involved in the Wyatt family.

II) Russev comes out at the end and causes Cena the win. Then Cena and Russev recreate the Cena/Umaga matches for a few months. After the feud is over, Cena moves onto something else. Best of all, Russev avoids jobbing to the Shield despite an 11 on 3 advantage.

Basically, Cena needs to have another squirrel to chase because this feud is doing nobody any good.

I’d be really happy if the IC tournament is the beginning to make the midcard mean something again. I’d also be happy if this will be a constant thing. Just, they need to keep Big E occupied in the meantime. He can’t fight someone from 3MB or Jobber McJobberstein in the meantime?

Eh, a guy his size getting up into a bridge and walking is tough enough, I think a kick or move would just look awkward and ineffectual. I would love for him to keep working on it and see how fast he could get. A Bray spider-scuttle across the ring would be the Ultimate Nightmare Fuel.

Wanted a little more action out of Evolution/ Shield. I kinda want Ric Flair to come out and endorse the Shield in some way, just because this new-fangled Evolution seems to have forgotten the Nature Boy.

Masked fire monster Kane is always my favorite Kane.

I’ve quickly become a fan of Paige. She can go and that Scorpion Crosslock looks vicious.

I still say that was the best RVD match in years. Thanks, King of Swing for trying to put him over. Now, why RVD won, I do not know.

I think Emma deserves better, but I won’t know until I see her doing some legit matches away from the Italian doofus and the dancing joke.

Sheamus pinned clean twice in the last week? The hell is happening here?

Rusev is just a square block of homicidal meat. I already want him in a real challenge, not steamrolling R-Truth and Xavier Woods. But yeah, Lana’s skirt was tight. Literally. I dunno how she did that.

That final match, though. Goddamn. Any good will about Raw was wasted by Cena no-selling and rolling through the Wyatt clan. I’m with Brandon, I think. Where can this go now? I don’t think I’m confident enough in the creative staff to take a long view about Bray slowly stealing Cena’s following by losing to him every week. No way can Cena control himself that long. We’ll be back to photoshop montages and stupid jokes in no time.

funny kane was always my favourite kane, because I’ve only started watching wrestling AFTER masked fire monster kane stopped really being masked fire monster… but kane up to 2001 was SUPER! SUPER, SUPER, SUPER!!! since then, I enjoy a lot of his comedy stuff, but never his “serious” stuff…